What is phygital marketing? You’ve probably already seen it in action. It’s a blend of physical and digital marketing, strategically designed to enhance customer experience and engagement - making it easier for customers to interact with brands in a way that feels fluid and natural.
With phygital marketing, we merge the tangible touchpoints of physical environments (e.g., in-store experiences, events, and face-to-face interactions) with digital technologies such as websites, mobile apps, and social media channels.
For example, a customer might start by researching a product on a brand’s website. They subsequently make a purchase through a mobile app, then collect their chosen product from a physical store. This "phygital" journey creates a seamless, personalized experience that caters to the customer's preferences.
In this article, we’ll dive into how you can develop an effective phygital marketing strategy, as well as looking at some examples of successful phygital marketing campaigns to get you inspired.
Why Use a Phygital Marketing Strategy?
Customers nowadays expect to be able to interact with brands across multiple touchpoints, both online and offline. Phygital marketing provides an opportunity to do just that; creating an immersive experience for customers that blends the best of both worlds.
Here are some of the ways phygital marketing can boost your business.
Enhanced customer experience and brand loyalty
When you develop a seamless blend of physical and digital touchpoints, you create a more immersive, engaging experience for your customers. The entire customer journey, from awareness through to advocacy, is made easier and more enjoyable – leading to an increase in customer satisfaction, and encouraging brand loyalty.
Increased engagement
Phygital marketing encourages customers to interact with your brand in multiple ways, whether through social media, in-store experiences, or digital campaigns.
You can really get creative with how you engage your customers – for example, online games, interactive events, and competitions are fun for customers, creating memorable experiences and fostering a sense of connection with your brand.
Increasing engagement in these ways can lead to higher conversion rates and improved customer retention.
Insights from data
Data-driven marketing is today’s gold standard – and by integrating your brand’s digital and physical touchpoints, you’ll be able to track customer behavior, preferences, and trends more effectively. This will provide you with valuable data that can be used to optimize your marketing strategies and more effectively allocate your resources.
You’ll be able to identify the best ways to appeal to your target market, both online and offline – and create campaigns that are perfectly targeted and personalized.
How to Develop a Phygital Marketing Strategy
Here are our seven key steps to developing a successful phygital marketing strategy.
1. Understand your customer’s journey
The first step in developing a phygital marketing strategy is to map out and understand the entire journey a customer goes through with your brand - across both digital and physical touchpoints.
As always, data is key. Use surveys, interviews, or customer data analytics to understand how your target audience interacts with both your digital and physical presence; this will allow you to develop detailed customer personas and identify pain points, preferences, and the path to purchase.
Once you understand how your customers interact with and move between your physical and digital touchpoints, you’ll be able to create a phygital strategy that aligns with their needs and behaviors, ensuring a seamless experience.
2. Create omnichannel campaigns
A central aspect of phygital marketing is creating omnichannel campaigns that operate smoothly across both physical and digital platforms. Whether you’re planning a promotional offer, a product launch, or a new customer service initiative, you need to ensure that your marketing efforts are synchronized across all channels. Making it easy for customers to switch between physical and digital interactions is key to increasing engagement.
Most importantly, make sure that you maintain consistent branding and messaging across all platforms. Using the same visual design, tone of voice, and customer service practices throughout all channels will create a strong brand identity and ensure that your customers enjoy a cohesive experience.
3. Use social media to drive physical engagement
Social media is a fantastic tool for brands to reach and engage with customers online, while simultaneously driving them toward physical interactions.
One way of doing this might be to broadcast in-store events, product launches, or behind-the-scenes looks at your business live on your social media platforms - making customers feel part of the action and encouraging them to visit your store. You could also collaborate with relevant influencers and have them showcase their in-store experience on their social media channels, inspiring their followers to visit in person.
4. Use digital channels to optimize offline interactions
In any effective phygital marketing strategy, your digital channels (i.e., your website, mobile app, and social media platforms) should be optimized for offline interactions. What this means in practice will depend on your business, but it could include, e.g., offering click-and-collect services, enabling customers to check product availability in-store, or using geolocation technology to deliver personalized offers when customers are near your physical locations.
5. Use technology to enhance in-store experiences
From augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) through to interactive kiosks and smart signage, there are many ways you might choose to digitally enhance your customers’ in-store experiences.
You could, for example, use AR to create interactive experiences in-store; allowing customers to try on products virtually, or to visualize how items might look in their homes. Integrating interactive digital signage is another great way to engage your customers, allowing them to view real-time product information, special offers, or promotions while in store.
6. Personalize your customers’ experiences
One of the benefits of implementing a phygital strategy is that the integration of digital and physical touchpoints allows you to gather valuable data about your customers’ preferences, behaviors, and interactions.
You can (and should!) use this data to personalize your customers’ experiences both online and offline, ensuring that each customer feels valued and understood. For instance, you could send out personalized offers, product recommendations, and reminders. Another idea is to create a digital loyalty program, accessed via an app or website, that rewards customers for both online and offline purchases.
7. Track performance and optimize your strategy
Finally, as ever, it's crucial that you measure the effectiveness of your phygital marketing strategy. Make use of analytics tools and point-of-sale data to track customer behavior and engagement across both digital and physical touchpoints. Regular analysis of this data will enable you to identify areas for improvement and optimize your phygital strategy accordingly.
You should also pay attention to customer feedback, both online and offline; it’s important to be aware of any friction points or areas where customer experience can be improved.
Phygital Marketing Examples
To inspire your own phygital marketing strategy, let's take a look at some examples of successful phygital marketing that have taken brands’ customer experience to the next level.
IKEA’s augmented reality (AR) app
IKEA’s app uses augmented reality to bridge the gap between digital and physical, allowing customers to visualize how items of furniture will look in their own homes before making a purchase.
Using a smartphone, customers can scan and create 3D representations of the rooms in their home, then view IKEA’s products within those spaces. Virtual items of furniture are automatically scaled to the dimensions of the room, and customers can arrange multiple products within the same space to see how they would look together.
This phygital experience helps customers make informed decisions about what to buy, ultimately increasing both purchases and customer satisfaction.
Specsavers’ Virtual Try-on tool
Similar to IKEA’s AR offering, Specsavers allows customers to virtually “try on” glasses and sunglasses from its range using the camera on their chosen device. The tool also provides the option for customers to take photos of themselves “wearing” different frames, so that they can share them with friends and get a second opinion before deciding what to purchase. They can then proceed to order their favourites online, or visit a physical location to try them on for real.
Starbucks’ mobile app
Through its app, Starbucks offers customers personalized recommendations based on their data, preferences, location, and season. It also allows them to collect and use rewards, and provides a seamless ordering process: food and drink can be ordered and paid for through the app, then simply picked up from the nearest Starbucks location. A perfect blend of digital and physical!
Final Thoughts
Developing an effective phygital marketing strategy requires a detailed understanding of how your customers interact with both digital and physical touchpoints. As well as boosting customer engagement and satisfaction, a good phygital strategy will enable you to gather valuable data that you can then use to optimize your marketing efforts.
By integrating technology, personalizing experiences, and creating seamless functionality across channels, you can provide your customers with a richer, more engaging experience that keeps them coming back.